


An Empty Jar and a Cup of Tea

by RiYuYami



Series: There's No Handbook for Being a Human-Time Lord [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Just adding to the big collection of what happened after the TARDIS left the beach, Pete's World (Doctor Who), Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26908342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiYuYami/pseuds/RiYuYami
Summary: The TARDIS is gone, and with it the Doctor, leaving Rose and her new Doctor behind, with even more things to deal with that aren’t universe destroying, but seem to be reminders of times long ago.
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor & Rose Tyler, Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: There's No Handbook for Being a Human-Time Lord [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1963372
Kudos: 17





	An Empty Jar and a Cup of Tea

**Author's Note:**

> Might as well write up my own version of what happened after Tentoo and Rose were left on the beach.
> 
> Warning: this is very heavy with headcanons and such, but then again, aren’t all these fanfics with Tentoo always nothing but headcanons? 
> 
> On with the fic!

The straining sounds of the TARDIS distracted Rose from the Doctor before her, making her realize that the other one was taking his leave.

He was doing it again, there was no final words, no goodbyes, just a silence hanging in the air. Is this how it was with Sarah Jane? Other companions and friends in his past? Rose felt her heart ache for his actions, they were the acts of a distraught man, one who couldn’t bare to stay less his hearts shatter completely.

She wanted to hate him, for leaving her on the beach again, she wanted to jump onto that fading box and hang on for dear life, screaming at him to open up and face her like the brave man he pretended to be.

But she couldn’t do any of that.

Rose wasn’t stupid, she knew that he left her with the only option that made any sense, that worked. He left her with himself, a piece of him that was all for her, still the same man, just a little bit more.

While the Doctor in the blue box was left to wallow in his own depression for leaving her behind, the pink and yellow girl was given a chance to continue her life with him, in a different way.

“He’s so stupid.”

Blinking, Rose looked to the Doctor in blue at her side, seeing the concerned expression on his tired face. “Excuse me?” She asked, catching his attention.

The Doctor turned, looking down at her, his face still showing concern and even a little bit of reluctant acceptance. “How can someone so clever be so stupid? He knew that you at least wanted a proper goodbye.”

“You know why.” She offered him a tired smile that was returned in just a matter of seconds.

“Right, he doesn’t do goodbyes, he doesn’t like endings.”

“Do you?”

“Oh, I suppose I can learn to live with them.” The Doctor chuckled, giving her hand a squeeze. “Rose Tyler, at least you give me an ending to look forward to.”

Rose’s smile grew a little at this, but it dropped quickly when she watched the half-alien start twitching, his eyes wide as he covered his mouth. He started to cough harshly, and she saw just the slightest glimmer of gold escape between his fingers.

Something in her told her to grab at it, and she quickly grasped at the gold light. It was regenerative energy, warm in her hand with just the slightest tingle, like touching an old TV screen when it was on for a while.

The Doctor pulled away from her, digging into his pocket quickly, his eyes still wide, frantic.

“Doctor?” Rose asked, worry in her voice. “What’s happenin’? Are you alright?”

He shook his head before pulling something from his jacket pocket. It was a jar, filled with a few odds and ends. “Open this, quick!” He said from behind his hand and she took it, opening the jar before he snatched it back, dumping the contents onto the sand.

Quickly, he removed his hand from his mouth and slammed it down on the mouth of the jar. Rose watched as the energy fell into the jar, swirling around within it. Carefully, he removed his hand, taking the lid from her, before holding out the jar. “Put what you have in here.”

Blinking, she looked at the little bit that clung to her skin, before dragging the palm of her hand against the lip of the jar. The lid slapped down on it and he sealed it. “Sorry, I’m still cooking, it seems.” He tried to explain with a smile. “Guess all the adrenaline of everything that happened didn’t really wear down until now, body’s trying to release all the energy it kept built up in case anything happened.”

“Why… did you put it in the jar?” Rose asked, watching him bend down to pick up his little objects he dumped on the ground, putting them into his pockets.

“I can’t regenerate in this body, only one heart, ya know? So, I figure I’ll hold onto the energy.”

“To… regenerate?” A part of Rose didn’t want that, she didn’t want to lose this Doctor like she lost his previous incarnation or the one who just left.

“No, I doubt it will work, I’m saving it for the coral.”

Oh, right, the other Doctor had given him a piece of coral from the TARDIS, and the Doctor Donna had happily explained to him how to make it grow in record time. It was all Greek to Rose when Donna explained what to do, but this Doctor seemed to completely understand her. “You’ll use your own energy to power it up?”

“In a way, yes. I gave life to the TARDIS before, when we first came to this world. I gave her a few years of my life to get her run…” He swayed for a second. “To get her running… running again…” He was panting before he dropped to his side.

“Doctor!” The blonde gasped, dropping to her knees, hearing him groan. She was having flashbacks to a Christmas years ago, when he had first changed in front of her eyes.

“Mum!” She called out to her mother, who had been standing a distance away, calling for Pete to pick them up. Jackie was quick to run over, asking what happened. “He’s still regenerating, like what happened before!”

“Think we need to get ‘em to a bed?” Jackie asked. “There’s that nice hotel up the road, we can stay there until your father comes. Pete said that the weather’s a bit harsh in England right now, won’t be able to come pick us up for a while.”

“Sounds good.” Rose nodded, grabbing the Doctor’s jar, putting it into her pocket as she moved to grab him off the ground. Each Tyler woman had an arm of the unconscious man swung over their shoulders as they started to walk towards the road.

As soon as they got to the road, there was a loud crack of thunder over their heads, before rain began to fall in sheets, like something from a movie. Rose sighed loudly, great, lovely, just one more thing to deal with.

“He owes us when he wakes up, ya know.” Jackie said over the rain and Rose was sure her mother was gonna happily hold onto that fact.

\--

The woman at the front desk of the hotel was very sweet, though she did ask why they had a passed-out man in their hold. Jackie informed her that he was a fool for not sleeping well and passed out from exhaustion and he was in need of a good nap!

Ten minutes later, Rose found herself sitting in a two-bed room, with the Doctor laying in the one closest to the sliding doors that led out to look over the shore. He was stripped of his jacket, shoes, and pants, down to his t-shirt and boxers, his poor clothes hanging from the shower rod to drip dry for now. Rose was still soaked, but a towel had helped a bit with that, same with turning up the heat in the room. She sat on the bed with him, gently petting his hair, keeping hold of his jar in case he released more energy from his mouth.

It has already happened once since he passed out, luckily in the room. Rose was sure he wouldn’t be happy if he lost any outside, especially since the last time that happened, it got the attention of a nasty set of aliens.

“Do you think a nice cuppa will get him up and goin’ again?” Jackie asked, looking down at the sleeping alien.

“It wouldn’t hurt.” Rose commented, brushing a few hairs from the Doctor’s forehead. “It worked before.”

Jackie watched them quietly for a moment, before excusing herself to go and get them something to eat and drink from the lobby. Rose was only half-paying attention, too focused on the man before her. Now that she was looking, he really looked exactly like her former Doctor.

Same hair style, same pattern of freckles and the little wrinkles he had around his eyes that revealed he was much older than he seemed. She did take note that there seemed to be a slight change in hair color, not quite the rich dark brown she knew, but with the slightest hints of red in the light from the hotel room.

“Finally ginger, I see.” She smiled. “Donna really was good to you, glad you got to spend time with her.”

There was no response, just the softest sounds as he slept away. That didn’t stop Rose from talking as she sat there with him. “I met her, Donna, but it was an alternate timeline version of her. I feel so bad for what happened in her timeline, I wish I could have helped, but I wasn’t allowed, I couldn’t, not until the time was right.”

She looked at the jar, at the beautiful golden energy inside. “You died in that world, and because you did… because you were alone, so many people died.” She remembered his screwdriver on the ground, she had tried to take it, but it was taken before she could grab it.

“He’ll be okay, the other you, I’m sure of it. He’s not alone. He’s got Donna. He’s got Mickey and Martha, Jack and Sarah Jane, he’s not alone.” Rose smiled sadly. “He’ll be sad for a while, it’s gonna hurt, it hurt me to be alone, but I had my family, I had Mickey. I made some new friends here, I hope you’ll like them, I’m sure they can’t wait to meet the mysterious Doctor I told them so much about.”

There was still no response, the energy in the jar was warming the glass. The human decided to keep talking, just to avoid the silence. “I have weird dreams, you know, about you wanting to die alone on Satellite 5, when you sent me away. I came back, looked into the TARDIS, I saw everything and nothing. I saw you in so many ways, but I can’t remember them, just you, just you in that leather jacket with the big ears, and you with the pinstripes and the sandshoes.

I saw the golden light of the TARDIS, and it looked just like this, and you kissed it away from me, cause I was dyin’. Do I need to kiss you? To keep you from leaving me again?” Rose leaned down, gently kissing him on the lips. She felt that strange static from before, against her lips, and felt him respond to the kiss.

He was still sleeping, but the Doctor kissed her back, so gentle and sweet, and tasting of something Rose could only remember the phantom taste on her tongue from so long ago.

She pulled away, just before he opened his mouth, and she caught this golden swirl like before.

Rose sighed, leaning back against the headboard. “You better wake up soon, Doctor. I don’t want to worry about you during another invasion. Mum’ll kick your butt if you sleep through that again, she was not happy about the Christmas tree that destroyed the house.”

Reaching over, she took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. There was an unconscious squeeze in return. She ran her thumb over the back of the hand that she had seen sliced off on Christmas Day a few years back, now it was the hand that belonged to the man who promised to stay with her. And Rose believed that promise, she had never seen him more serious in that moment when he told her that he had one life and he wanted to spend it with her.

Her thoughts were stopped when Jackie came into the room, carefully carrying a full tray with her towards the little table near the television. “How’s he doin’? Still snoozin’ away the day?”

“Yeah,” Rose nodded, reluctantly letting go of his hand to get up from the bed to help her mother out, “I think he’ll be out for a while, he’s still spitting out regenerative energy.”

“That stuff in the jar?” Jackie made a face. “Why’s he keeping that?”

“For the TARDIS coral the other Doctor gave him.” Rose looked at the jar on the bed, then at the Doctor. He seemed to be mumbling something quietly in his sleep, turning onto his side, facing the window. His face scrunched up, like he was uncomfortable, or annoyed. Rose picked up a blue mug of tea, walking over to the side table the Doctor was facing, placing it close to him.

He took a deep inhale of the strong tea that even Rose could smell from where she stood, and she watched him visibly relax. The energy escaped him again and Rose was quick to capture it, sealing the lip once again. “Hope he doesn’t do this all night, don’t want to have to be awake after the day I’ve had.”

And what a day it’s been, Rose just wanted to sleep for the next few years at this point.

“Well, have somethin’ to eat, love, then shower and get yourself comfortable. I spoke with your dad again, seems that he won’t be able to get here until morning with all this rain.” The older Tyler gestured to the window, the rain was still coming down hard and the storm was still raging.

“I guess you’re right.” Rose nodded, moving to sit at the table with her, digging into the food her mother brought up for them. She took another look at the Doctor, who seemed to have returned to his inaudible conversation.

She never took him for a sleep talker, but then again, he was known for his gob.

\--

Even as a part-human Time Lord, the Doctor’s sense of time was not damaged. It was weaker here, in a universe he wasn’t use to, but he was sure that in a month or two he’d have a handle on it.

As of this moment, he knew that it was about 4 hours in the morning, thirty-nine minutes, give or take six seconds.

And he also knew that he was awake, and the faint scent of tea was in his nose, he could taste it on his tongue. It was a local tea, had a bit of spiced orange rind mixed in, lovely blend. The Doctor was surprised to find that his nose and tongue still worked, though that might be connected to his Time Lord brain that stored these sorts of things to memory very well.

His sense of touch was a little off, that, or this blanket that covered him was washed with a dreadful laundry soap. His sense of hearing picked up breathing next to him, and a loud snort and shuffle of someone else in the room.

Opening his eyes, the Doctor found himself in a dark room, but he knew that already. He could make out the faintest of object shapes in the room. The only sources of light were from the alarm clock near his head, telling him the time, and of his jar.

It was full of his energy, still intact and swirling about. It wasn’t as much as there would have been from a full regeneration, like when he had become some of his previous selves. His counterpart had used a good chunk of it to heal himself and threw the rest into the hand that became the Doctor in this room.

It hadn’t been a lot of energy left, but this was still plenty to help feed the TARDIS coral, along with some other objects he had sneaked off the ship.

Carefully, the half-Time Lord picked it up off the bed, before realizing that it had been resting between him and someone. Pausing, he looked at the other occupant of the bed, seeing blonde hair in the glow of the jar, and a face he had seen in dreams for so long. The Doctor smiled softly, remembering what had happened, and who he was with.

Another snort was heard across the room.

Oh, apparently Jackie was here as well, okay.

Carefully, the Doctor got himself out of bed and made his way to the bedroom, stumbling on tired legs. Uhg, a side-effect of being human, probably. He got himself inside and turned on the lights, wincing at the brightness before adjusting to it.

There, he could see himself for the first time in the mirror, he hadn’t even bothered with the one in his wardrobe room back on the TARDIS-

He swallowed thickly, no, that wasn’t his anymore, it belonged to one person, a very sad person who needed time to heal.

The Doctor looked at the man in the reflection, seeing that he looked just like his counterpart, crazy hair, brown eyes, which was still strange cause he had never had brown eyes before, and yet still not a ginger. Can’t win them all. Freckles still there, though the mole had moved on his back, in fact, there were more freckles on his back and shoulders.

A side effect from Donna, probably.

He looked just like the other Doctor, but he also picked up a few things from Donna.

Could be worse, he could have done this with Jack. That thought alone made the Doctor shudder violently.

“Bleh.” He shook his head and continued to examine himself. He hadn’t really gotten a chance to see how different things were, especially because he really couldn’t look at his naked self with Donna right there!

Oh, Donna, she didn’t deserve what happened, but it’s better than her dying. He would rather she forgot him completely than to die because of him.

A little part of the Doctor hoped his other self could accidentally run into her after he’s changed his face sometime in the future, just to get a little closure. He’d need it.

The Doctor distracted himself from feeling upset with figuring things out about this new self he was given. For one thing, he seemed to be mostly Time Lord, which was a saving grace for his mind. However, the need to go back to sleep was strong, and the Doctor never really enjoyed sleep to begin with, so this was gonna be trouble.

His eyesight wasn’t the best, might have to upgrade the brainy specs, they could actually serve a true purpose now. His other senses seemed almost normal, just a little muted in some areas, but that’s alright, might be better for him with this form.

His right hand was more sensitive to touch, he noticed, his left was duller, much more human-based. This was gonna take some getting used to.

With a yawn, he turned off the light and made his way back into the room, where Rose and Jackie continued to sleep. He grabbed the cold mug of tea from the nightstand and found the microwave, activating it and hoping the women in the room were heavy sleepers. Once his drink was hot to his liking, he took a seat on the bed and took a drink.

Oh, that’s brilliant, made him feel a bit more normal. Heh, even this body needed a good cuppa to get itself back into shape.

Guess that’s why it was left by his side of the bed, a little wake up attempt. He took another drink and relaxed as he looked out the large windows. Getting up, he went to the sliding door and stepped outside.

The Doctor could smell the rain, it had stormed, there was still a slight feel of static in the air, but the rain was just a drizzle now. He stepped on the damp balcony, protected from the drizzle by an awning above his head. It was surreal to him, standing here at nearly five in the morning in a parallel Norway.

Not too long ago, he had been a hand in a jar, resting in the TARDIS and before that, in Torchwood. Now? Now he was the Doctor, a new version of him, part human, part Time Lord, still the same Doctor.

He was here in Pete’s World, left with no TARDIS or way back to his universe. But he had Rose, he had her, a new chance at life, even after everything he had done, he could start over. It’ll be tough, but the Doctor always loved a challenge.

He glanced over his shoulder when he heard something, seeing a tired Rose standing in the doorway to the balcony. “Doctor..?” She asked in a sleepy voice.

The Doctor turned and smiled. “Hello Rose Tyler, you should be sleeping.”

“So should you…” She shuffled towards him, leaning against his chest. The Doctor couldn’t help but to blush at this, she just did it like it was perfectly normal for them. “Come back to bed, ‘s cold.”

“I-I’ve got tea.”

Rose glanced at the mug, blinking slowly. “Oh. Oh!” Something seemed to click in her head, waking her up. “Did it work? Mum and I figured that tea might get you up and runnin’ again, like it had before.”

“Ah, it worked brilliantly.” He gave her his signature grin, taking another drink. “Not your mum’s tea like before, but it tastes and smells pretty good, so I can’t judge.”

Rose seemed to smile at that, lazily wrapping her arms around him. “So, you’re good then? No need for us to worry?”

“I’m perfectly fine, I think I’m good.” He replied, looking at his pink and yellow girl. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead. “Should go to bed, this body wants more sleep and it’s not part of the regenerative cycle.”

She laughed a little into his chest and walked with him back into the room, closing the door behind them. Rose got into bed and waited for him to lay down under the covers before moving close to him, hugging onto him tightly. “I can’t believe you’re here. You’re real.” She whispered.

“And so are you.” He replied quietly, holding her tight in return. “We’re both here, we’re both together, and in due time, we’ll be off having adventures together.”

“I’d like that.” She said with a smile in her voice. “Can’t wait for your jar to make that true.”

“Well, with that cup of tea, things are just getting started.”

END

**Author's Note:**

> That was fun! And long, eight pages, been a while since I’ve written that much for a one-shot! 
> 
> Yeah, as I said, this is pretty much headcanon based. I’m all for Rose being all ‘is he or is he not the Doctor’ in fics, but I rather like the idea that Rose also doesn’t care. This is *her* Doctor, and she’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth!
> 
> Also, I got to put in a pretty good reference in here, so that’s a plus. Can you guess what it was?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
